4th Quarter TSA Report Card Identifies Problem Airports On the Rise

January 27, 2009

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Sikh Coalition

http://www.sikhcoalition.org/advisories/TSAQ4ReportCard.htm

As 2008 came to a close, the Sikh Coalition continued to tally reports of profiling by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at US airports. Reports alleging 100% secondary screening of Sikhs from Oakland and Seattle airports are particularly concerning. The Coalition today released its Fourth Quarter TSA Report Card to track how the TSA's headwear search policy is being implemented on Sikh passengers.

In the first full year of the TSA's headwear search policy, the Coalition made some progress, but various challenges face the Sikh community as we move into 2009. The number of "problem airports" - those from which Sikhs report a nearly 100% secondary search rate of their turbans - is on the rise. Oakland and Seattle airports top the list. This is despite a commitment by the TSA to train its staff nationwide about Sikh articles of faith in 2008.